To play a conventional slot machine, a player deposits money in the form of coins, gaming tokens, paper currency or tickets either into a coin head or bill acceptor, respectively. The coins and gaming tokens are collected in a reservoir inside the gaming machine while the paper currency or ticket is collected in the bill acceptor inside the gaming machine. If the coins, gaming tokens, paper currency or ticket are validated as authentic, the player accrues the appropriate number of playing credits on a credit meter. For example, a twenty-five cent gaming machine will accrue four credits for each dollar deposited into the gaming machine.
After accruing credits on the credit meter, the player determines how many credits to wager on the next spin of the slot reels. The player causes the gaming device to spin the reels by pressing the spin button or by pulling a handle. When the reels stop spinning, symbols are displayed in symbol positions on the reels and awards are provided to a player based on designated symbol combinations indicated in a paytable or award summary table.
More specifically, slot machines include a symbol matrix which includes symbols displayed on three or more of the reels (also called “columns” or “reel columns”) that are adjacent to each other. The resulting matrix of symbols typically ranges from three columns by three rows with nine total symbols, to five columns by three rows with fifteen total symbols. Each position in the symbol matrix is referenced by column, from left to right, and row, from the top to bottom (“symbol positions”). For example: symbol position 1/2 is located in column 1 and row 2.
Players collect credits for predetermined winning symbol combinations that appear in specific or designated symbol positions on the reels. The combination of these designated symbol positions are generally referred to as “paylines.”
Conventional gaming devices initially included only one payline and provided credits for any winning symbol combinations occurring on that payline. Over time, the number of paylines associated with the reels increased to provide players with several different opportunities to obtain winning symbol combinations. For example in FIG. 3, the gaming device includes a set of reels 100 including five reels 54a, 54b, 54c, 54d and 54e having symbols 102. Five different paylines 52a, 52b, 52c, 52d and 52e are associated with the reels where the paylines extend horizontally and diagonally across the reels and intersect and overlap each other. Many conventional video reel gaming devices have even more paylines such as nine paylines, fifteen paylines, twenty paylines, twenty-five paylines or even more paylines associated with the reels.
In such video slot machines, when a winning combination of symbols occurs on one of the paylines or winning combinations of symbols occurs on a couple of these paylines, the win on each payline is simultaneously displayed. The player can usually read and easily understand the win on each payline and the amount won on each payline. When winning combinations of symbols occur on many, most or all of the paylines the win on each payline is simultaneously displayed. With games having nine, fifteen, twenty or twenty-five or more paylines, these paylines cover up a substantial portion of the screen, block the player's view of the symbols which resulted in the winning combinations and are generally more difficult to understand how the wins occurred. Thus, while the player enjoys the wins on many paylines, for some players it is difficult to understand why and how each of the wins occurred due to these intersecting and overlapping paylines.
Accordingly, there is a need for new gaming devices which make viewing and determining winning symbol combinations on paylines and the individual wins associated with those paylines easier for players.